Written questions by Chadwick.

Whether eligible Claimants that have existing applications for the LCWRA element of Universal Credit and are currently waiting for their Work Capability Assessment (WCA) will upon completion receive (a) the current rate of payment or (b) the rate of payment in place when their WCA is completed.

The Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance (Rates of Allowances) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 were laid in Parliament on 09 February 2026. The Regulations provide further detail on the application of the Universal Credit Act 2025 including the definition of a pre-6 April 2026 Claimant confirming that claimants who declare a health condition or disability on or before 5 April 2026 and are found to have limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) will receive the higher rate of LCWRA. This applies even if their decision on entitlement is made on or after 6 April 2026.

Pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2026 to Question 108679 on Universal Credit: Work Capability Assessment, what estimate his Department has made of the reasons for the reduction in the number of Universal Credit Work Capability Assessments completed in December 2025 compared to each of the previous four months; and what steps his Department plans to take to increase capacity.

Work Capability Assessments reduced in December 2025 compared to the previous four months due to fewer working days over Christmas and an increase of staff on annual leave, again due to the festive period.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the time taken for Access to Work award decisions and reimbursements payments on access to jobs for disabled people, including people living with multiple sclerosis.

We recognise the importance of clearing the backlog, which is why last year we increased the number of staff working in this area by 27% and we have continued to streamline delivery practices. To protect employment opportunities, case managers prioritise Access to Work applications where the customer is due to start a job within four weeks, or cases that are up for renewal. In the Pathways to Work Green Paper, we consulted on the future of Access to Work and how to improve the scheme so that it helps more disabled people in work. We are considering all aspects of the scheme as we develop plans for reform following the conclusion of the consultation.

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the Child Maintenance Service policy in establishing the Paying Parent, in the context of changes in societal norms and the increase in co-parenting and shared parenting arrangements.

The person providing primary care of the child and with whom the child lives is entitled to make an application for child maintenance. This is known as the receiving parent. The receiving parent is determined by which parent looks after the child most of the time. For example, with whom the child has their home and who usually provides day to day care for the child. The Child Maintenance Calculation can be amended to reflect co-parenting and shared parenting arrangements. A paying parent’s maintenance liability can be reduced where they have overnight care of a child for whom they pay maintenance. This reduction is intended to broadly reflect the cost associated with any overnight care given. The paying parent must have overnight care of any qualifying children for at least 52 nights a year, equivalent to 1 night per week. The amount payable is reduced to a maximum of 50 per cent within bands based on the number of days overnight care is provided over a 12-month period. The CMS uses bands based on the number of days overnight care is provided, to ensure a fair, consistent, and administratively efficient method of accounting for the costs borne by each parent. If the CMS is satisfied that both parents have equal day-to-day care for the child, in addition to sharing overnight care, there is no requirement for either parent to pay child maintenance. There is no statutory definition of day-to-day care, our definition is broadly aligned with that of Child Benefit, where an ‘overall care test’ is used. This provides consistency across government and receipt of Child Benefit is regarded as a good indicator of who is entitled to child maintenance payments.

If he will make it his policy to guarantee working-age people with a terminal illness a State Pension-level of income.

We have no such policy. Supporting people nearing the end of their life is important to the Government. The main way the Department does this is through the Special Rules for End of Life (SREL) which enable people who are nearing the end of their lives to get faster, easier access to Personal Independence Payment, Employment and Support Allowance, Universal Credit and Attendance Allowance. The Department is committed to ensure that eligible claimants at the end of life have their claims processed as quickly as possible. Latest figures show that in Great Britain, new claims to PIP under the Special Rules are being cleared in 3 working days on average.

When will the Health & Safety Executive publish next steps and its formal response to the consultation it conducted on proposals for changing GB CLP and GB BPR; and whether it plans to publish draft legislative proposals to enact some of the proposals using powers under the Retained EU Law Act.

The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE’s) response to the Chemicals Legislative Reform Proposals consultation, which took place from 23 June 2025 to 18 August 2025, is expected to be published in early 2026 subject to Ministerial approval. The consultation set out HSE’s proposals to reform three pieces of chemicals legislation: Great Britain Biocidal Products Regulation (GB BPR); Great Britain Classification, Labelling and Packaging (GB CLP); and Great Britain Prior Informed Consent for the export and import of hazardous chemicals (GB PIC). The approach to chemicals reforms and policy will be set out in full in the consultation response alongside how HSE plans to legislate to implement any changes. This will include consideration of using the powers in the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023.

What assessment the Health and Safety Executive has made of its proposals to replace expiry dates for biocidal active substance approvals with a mechanism to ‘call in’ these substances for review on (a) the safety of active substances on the market and (b) their impact on (i) health and (ii) the environment.

The Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) legislative reforms aim to provide greater flexibility to the regulator while maintaining the current high standards offered by chemicals regulatory regimes, including the Great Britain Biocidal Products Regulation (GB BPR), to human health and the environment. The proposal to remove fixed expiry dates and introduce a risk-based 'call-in' system for active substance reviews would permit HSE to focus evaluation work where it would have the greatest impact particularly on addressing initial assessments that are required as part of the GB Active Substance Review Programme. Active substances requiring initial evaluation will as yet have had no evaluation, consequently risks are much less well understood than active substances (biocidal approvals) that have already been thoroughly evaluated and deemed acceptable. This proposed change of approach will enable HSE to continue to make efficient and effective regulatory decisions to address risks to people’s safety, health and the environment. All decisions on these proposals are subject to an analysis of the consultation responses, which is currently underway, and all final decisions are subject to parliamentary scrutiny.

If the Health and Safety Executive will take steps to align with (a) EU mandatory hazard classifications (under EU Classification, Labelling & Packaging Regulation) and (b) EU decisions to (i) approve, (ii) not to approve, (iii) restrict and (iv) ban biocide active substances.

In Great Britain (GB) chemicals are regulated under a framework that was largely inherited from the EU system including the GB Classification, Labelling and Packing Regulation (GB CLP) and the GB Biocidal Products Regulation (GB BPR). GB CLP like EU CLP adopts the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of classification and labelling of chemicals (‘the UN GHS’); a voluntary internationally agreed system, upon which the classification and labelling provisions of GB CLP are based. Divergence between mandatory hazard classifications for chemicals (GB mandatory classification and labelling (GB MCLs)) and EU mandatory hazard classifications has been minimal to-date. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) conducted a public consultation between 23 June and 18 August 2025 on proposals for reforming both GB CLP and GB BPR. The GB BPR proposals included a proposal to adopt approvals from recognised jurisdictions. It is anticipated that the EU would be a recognised jurisdiction which would make it easier to adopt EU decisions where appropriate for GB. The analysis of the consultation responses is underway, and all final decisions including any decisions to align with the EU on GB CLP and GB BPR are subject to parliamentary scrutiny.

When his Department plans to publish a plan for improving the Access to Work Scheme.

Following the close of the Pathways to Work Green Paper consultation,we are considering responses to the consultation and continuing to work closely with stakeholders, and in particular disabled people and their representatives.

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of support offered by the Access to Work Scheme for people that wish to be self-employed.

Access to Work (AtW) is a personalised grant which supports the recruitment and retention of disabled people in employment including providing support for people who are self-employed. In 2024/5 Access to Work supported 7,080 self-employed customers. We will be reviewing all aspects of the Scheme now that the consultation has closed. We are continuing to work closely with stakeholders, and in particular disabled people and their representatives, on all aspects of our proposals.

What estimate her Department has made of the (a) number of (i) Carer’s Allowance and (ii) carer element recipients who will lose their eligibility in Wales by the 2029-30 financial year and (b) the cost to the public purse of these changes; and what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of eligibility changes on carers in poverty.

The assessment by the Office for Budget Responsibility of the impact of the proposed changes on carers was only made for England and Wales as a whole. The impacts can be found in table A4 here: Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts.

Whether she will consider proposals to support parents of chronically ill children from day 1 of that child's diagnosis.

The Government understands the difficulties and distress that children with serious health conditions or critical illnesses face. Children and their families who are living with a medical condition will be facing a difficult time in their lives which is why the department provides a wide range of financial support for both individuals and their carers. Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is open to new claims for children aged under 16 if a child’s condition or illness is both of a long-term nature and gives rise to care or mobility needs. The earliest that entitlement to DLA can start is when a three-month qualifying period condition has been met. This qualifying period helps establish that the disability and resulting care, supervision or mobility needs are of a long-standing nature and ensures that disability benefits are targeted to support those with long-term health conditions or disabilities. The qualifying period starts from the point that care, or mobility needs commence rather than the date the condition is diagnosed. Children claiming DLA under the special rules for end of life do not have to satisfy the three-month qualifying period. In these cases, the claim is fast tracked, and the higher-rate care component is awarded from the date of claim.

How the Child Poverty Taskforce will interact with the Welsh Government.

Child Poverty Taskforce Ministers and Officials meet regularly with Ministers and Officials from the Devolved Governments. Working closely with partners across all UK nations and regions is a central part of our approach to developing the strategy, as set out in Tackling Child Poverty: Developing Our Strategy.

How many people are receiving PIP as a result of having a lung condition; and whether breathlessness is taken into account when conducting a PIP assessment.

In October 2024, there were 107,697 claimants with a respiratory diseased who received Personal Independence Payment (PIP). These figures are for England and Wales only and exclude claimants with Special Rules for End of Life. This figure can be found in Stat Xplore in the “PIP cases with Entitlement from 2019” table found here: Stat-Xplore - Home. Entitlement to PIP is assessed on the basis of the needs arising from a health condition or disability, rather than the health condition or disability itself. Individuals can be affected in different ways by the same condition and so the outcome of a PIP claim depends very much on individual circumstances. PIP legislation requires decision makers to consider whether individuals can complete each assessment activity “safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time period”. These four components are known as the reliability criteria. When determining whether an activity can be reliably carried out, symptoms such as breathlessness should be considered, as they may indicate that the activity cannot be done to an acceptable standard, repeatedly, or within a reasonable time period. The impact of completing one activity on the ability to complete others must also be considered.

How many agricultural workers claim Universal Credit.

The requested information is not held. We do not systematically collect data on the employment sector background of Universal Credit (UC) claimants because this does not affect entitlement to UC.

If she will make an assessment of the potential implications for (a) her policies on reducing Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticide exposure in wildlife and (b) the Rodenticide Stewardship Scheme of the report entitled Lost nature, published by Wild Justice on 12 December 2024.

I refer the hon. Member to the previous reply PQ 15550.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of moving Child Maintenance Service payment calculations to a monthly Universal Credit style system.

Information about the paying parent's gross income is taken directly from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for the latest tax year available. This allows calculations to be made quickly and accurately. Any income subject to income tax, including bonuses and overtime received by an employed paying parent, is included within their gross weekly income when calculating a child maintenance liability. The Child Maintenance Service is designed to deliver stability by reviewing the liability annually, unless a substantial change in income has occurred. The 25% tolerance for in-year changes ensures liabilities remain consistent, and both parents can factor this into their financial planning, providing ongoing stability for the child.In light of societal changes since it was last evaluated, a review of the calculation is currently ongoing to ensure it is fit for purpose and fair for both parents.

Whether her Department has undertaken an evaluation of the Mid-life MOT initiative.

The Midlife MOT is designed to help individuals in their 40s and 50s to stay in and return to work. Midlife MOT sessions are delivered through Jobcentre Plus for Universal Credit claimants aged 50+. The research on these sessions is currently ongoing and will be published upon completion. The Private Sector Midlife MOT pilots were delivered through providers, direct to employees, in three pilot areas (the North East of England; Cornwall and Devon; and East Anglia). These pilots have now ended. Evaluation of the pilots was the responsibility of the programme providers individually. DWP also conducted in-house research as part of a wider evaluation strategy. The Digital Midlife MOT website, providing access to financial, health and career guidance, is open to all and website analytics are continuously monitored. Further research into the Digital MOT website is ongoing and will be published upon completion.

Whether her Department has undertaken an evaluation of the Mid-life MOT initiative.

The Midlife MOT is designed to help individuals in their 40s and 50s to stay in and return to work. Midlife MOT sessions are delivered through Jobcentre Plus for Universal Credit claimants aged 50+. The research on these sessions is currently ongoing and will be published upon completion. The Private Sector Midlife MOT pilots were delivered through providers, direct to employees, in three pilot areas (the North East of England; Cornwall and Devon; and East Anglia). These pilots have now ended. Evaluation of the pilots was the responsibility of the programme providers individually. DWP also conducted in-house research as part of a wider evaluation strategy. The Digital Midlife MOT website, providing access to financial, health and career guidance, is open to all and website analytics are continuously monitored. Further research into the Digital MOT website is ongoing and will be published upon completion.